Events of Friday, November 5, 2010

          I was awakened from my beauty sleep unwillingly this morning. I had had a very nice night of sleep, and I didn’t want anyone to disturb it. Eventually, I woke up enough to make my bed and head inside. Now that the sun was up, we could see Dr. Jibilian’s huge stone house and stone barn. In her back yard we could see her corn field, even though it has been harvested already. Even though she doesn’t have any animals in her big stone barn right now, she hopes to have some horses soon. She is going to have stalls built in, and then she will get horses, and I’d love to be there when she does! Sadly, this was our last morning with her. Inside her house, which was probably built around 1807, there are large and comfy rooms, although some are used as storage rooms. She even has one room that she calls the closet room, and that is what it is. Closets frame the walls, and, no doubt, she will always have enough room for clothes.  Downstairs, in her kitchen, her oven is surrounded by brick. Not exactly a brick oven, but close. It was here in the kitchen that we gathered for a yummy breakfast with Dr. Jibilian. For breakfast, we had cereal, banana walnut bread, English muffins, and bagels – YUM! Dr. Jibilian had gotten the loaf of yummy banana walnut bread especially for us. It was delicious and topped with dried and sliced bananas, giving it a decorative look.

          After breakfast, we took hot, clean, and overall lovely showers, and sadly said good bye to our wonderful host, Dr. Jibilian. Then we packed up and hit the road. We drove, switched drivers, drove, switched drivers, and so on and so on. On the way, we passed by the town of Hershey, which we will tour on Sunday. Soon, we stopped for lunch, warm and delicious leftover pizza (courtesy of Dr. Jibilian), and then we just continued on the road. Around two, we reached our final destination, the town of State College, where, as you might have guessed, Penn State is located. When Mom was going to physical therapy school, two of her classmates got married, and now live in State College where they work as physical therapists. They have three boys, Reese, almost 17, Nolan,  almost 15, and David, 12. We arrived at their house, and talked for a little. The Fishers wanted us to experience all the things that make a visit to State College complete  – climb Mount Nittany, go to the Penn State creamery, taste a grilled sticky, and, tomorrow, hopefully, see Jim Paterno, coach of the Penn State football team, win his 400th game.

          We unloaded a little and then headed to Mount Nittany in the RV. We hiked a fun but steep trail to a beautiful overlook, giving us a fantastic view of the whole town. From there, we could see the basic vicinity of their house, Penn State, and a view of the Pennsylvania countryside. David, Reese and Mrs. Fisher pointed out the different landmarks to us. Now thoroughly oriented to the Penn State campus, we walked down the trail and headed for the Berkey Creamery. Since finding a place to park Harvey on campus would be difficult, we drove to the arboretum parking lot just a short walk from the Creamery.

          The Creamery is in the Food Science building, and all their ice cream is made by the students studying food science. We ordered cones, and then sat down to enjoy. Mom had gotten the flavor Death by Chocolate. Since this was made by the food science students, who also know a little about death, Ben jokingly worried about her health, but she is quite fine. Dad got black walnut fro-yo, and Caitlin got Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. The cones were all supposed to be equal, but that wasn’t always the case. Ben’s ice cream, Lion S’more, was the second largest, and Lindsey’s ice cream, Autumn Delight, was in the middle. Mine was the largest. The flavor was Apple Cobbler Crunch, and was equal to about half of a small apple cobbler. It was very delicious, and, in the warmth of the building, we thoroughly enjoyed our ice cream. Then Reese noticed that the food science students were handing out free food. So we quickly grabbed some bagel cheese dogs, which were very good, although a bit overcooked. Well fed, we sauntered back to the RV and drove back to the Fisher’s home.

          When we got home, the parents talked, while the Fisher boys showed us around. They have a really cool basement, and they have everything down there -  from a weight lifting chair to a ping pong table. We started playing ping pong, and I found that I was quite bad at it, except maybe with two paddles. So we played on until it was dinner time and we were called upstairs. For dinner, we had Philly Cheese Steak, another Pennsylvania “must eat” and yummy apple pie for dessert. While the parents talked and remembered their time in graduate school and Boston, the kids started a game of Life -  and we have yet to finish. Soon it was bed time and we headed to bed, glad to be inside, warm, and in State College.